Wait, Russell Crowe is The Sheriff of Nottingham AND Robin Hood? Huh?

“Nottingham” is definitely one of the films I’m most looking forward to in the coming years (if it ever gets made, that is), not least of which because I just loved the whole Robin Hood stuff. Really, I even thought Mel Brooks’ “Men in Tights” was pretty cool. And to get someone like Ridley Scott, who seems to do these period action movies better than anyone out there (despite all its faults, Scott’s “Kingdom of Heaven” was a visually breathtaking flick that I can watch again and again), to direct just makes it that much more highly anticipated. Then you add Russell Crowe, and tell me this will be a “re-imagining” of the oft-told tale, and how could I not be there on opening night? But wait, there’s more!

How about Russell Crowe playing the Sheriff of Nottingham, who in this version won’t be the black-and-white bad guy he was in all the other movies, AND Robin Hood? But hey, don’t take my word for it. Here’s what Scott recently told MTV:

The news comes straight from the helmer himself, with Scott revealing “He’s playing both!” exclusively to MTV News during an interview for his new film “Body of Lies,” which co-stars Crowe. While Scott held additional details close to his chest — saying they would take too long to describe — he did exclaim that Crowe’s dual roles would be “a good old clever adjustment of characters. One becomes the other. It changes.”

I don’t know if Scott was being a wiseass when he said that, but it sort of makes sense, and could work. We already know that the Sheriff of Nottingham won’t be a bad guy, and is instead just a guy with an official job who is stuck between a rock and a hard place — doing his job, but knowing that his boss (the King) is a wicked and evil S.O.B. So what to do? How about do his job as the Sheriff by day, rob from the rich and give to the poor as Robin Hood by night?